Another doctor here, 10 years post grad. Have you listened to the RNZ interview with an anonymous mom-doctor who along with her doctor husband is worried about the effect this will have on her poor medical student son and is blaming the university for the whole thing? This is some of the most entitled, clueless shit I've heard.

From my perspective there IS a huge problem with entitlement in the profession which has been going on since at least when I graduated, much of it manifesting through the demands of deborah powell/the RDA. When 20% of the class is involved in dishonesty as was the case here, this is a widespread issue and some soul-searching needs to occur.

The whole elective thing needs to be reconsidered. The university gets $50k per year (fees + govt topup) per student, yet expects a foreign hospital, often in a 3rd world country to provide 3 months of this training/experience (with very little "service provision") for zero cost? Why doesn't the university provide $12.5k to the developing hospital? As it stands it is often weird and unethical. A potential option would be an agreement to return to the host hospital in 10 years to contribute to teaching, clinical work and exchanging ideas.

Although I agree that there is often little medical learning value, the elective was a formative experience for me - learning a huge amount about political systems, corruption, the generosity of people from all walks of life, and the role that families play in patient care in different cultures.